NOTES TO BUYERS:
1) I don't care how new you are or how long you've been
collecting, the smart buyer is ALWAYS the educated buyer.
This is particularly true on EBay and any other auction site,
where marketing can gloss over certain important details.
Find out as much as you can about animation production cels
as possible, even about specific studio behavior and series'
idiosyncrasies, the presence of sericels/CHROMAs, whatever.
For specific cels, if the information isn't already available,
don't be afraid to ask about the cel number(s), how many
layers, the presence of a sketch/background and if they're
stuck or not stuck, and the anime source if you have not seen
the exact episode.
2) If you ever have doubts or questions about a cel's authenticity
or source or just why it is the way it is, yes, ask the dealer
first. Obviously this will NOT deter seller folk who KNOWINGLY
sell such material from lying about source, but most dealers
are very willing to offer some of their expertise.
3) If your query is legitimate (i.e. NOT accusatory yet), it is
NOT a bad idea to ask on this forum or your friends or some
other place where cel collectors gather. However, you obviously
must phrase your query(s) exactingly, because some dealers are
not fluent in English and any misconstruement can lead to some
ugly flaming which gets no one anywhere. Extreme simplicity
is good in this case.
4) Obviously such queries should be done BEFORE buying the cel in
question, and should start privately before publicly. Keep
seller/dealer anonymity in mind while you make public queries.
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